Well, Happy, Free From Suffering

One morning while I was away, my friend and I got cursed at by an angry woman in a car.

It was pretty early, around 7 am, and we had to use a crosswalk to cross over to the place my friend's car was parked. A car was coming very quickly towards us, but slammed on the braked and stopped before the crosswalk, in order to allow us to cross. (I have found that when someone in your party is pushing a stroller, traffic is much more likely to stop for you!)

We crossed in front of the car safely, but as we got to the other side the woman yelled out the car window something like, "Jeez, it's hard to stop a car just like that to let people cross, at least you could have waved or something!"

I immediately started over thinking the situation: why we hadn't waved, about how our hands were full, about how I had waved and she just hadn't seen it, about why I was such a horrible person to not think of waving, about what a horrible person she was for yelling at us.

Suddenly, a wonderful, joyful part of my brain said "Send her peace." In my head I said, "May you be well, may you be happy, and may you be free from suffering." I sent it out to her energy and I felt better instantly. I even tried to think about the situation again to see if I could stress myself out, but I felt a nice sense of calm.

I originally heard this phrase when reading about a method for compassionate meditating. The gist of it is that you get into your meditation space, picture someone you love and say, "May you be well, may you be happy, may you be free from suffering." Then you picture someone you don't care for and send the same thoughts to them. Next, picture someone you don't really know, maybe a check out cashier at the local deli or something, and send them the same words. Lastly, you picture yourself and send yourself the same peaceful offering.

Have a great day and be joyful!